1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gear assemblies and related methods for using the same in dunnage machines to produce cushioning material.
2. Description of Related Art
The transfer of goods in trade can often present impact hazards for the goods being shipped. Hence, cushioning material or cushioning product (often called “dunnage”) is used to pack containers for the goods to provide support and to fill voids in the containers during the transfer process.
Paper-based cushioning material is a popular packing option in comparison with other materials, due to the many advantages that such paper-based materials offer. For example, paper is biodegradable and easily disposed.
In practice, paper-based cushioning material is often generated using a conversion process that involves feeding stock sheet material into a conversion machine. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,210 to Komaransky, et al., discloses a mechanism and method for producing relatively low density pad-like dunnage from sheet-like stock material. The mechanism takes the sheet-like stock material from a multi-ply (or single-ply) roll and converts it into a pad-like cushioning dunnage product having outer longitudinally extending pillow-like portions connected together along a generally central portion of the dunnage, the central portion extending longitudinally along the length of the dunnage and comprising overlapping edge portions of the stock material which have been folded inward in order to overlap at the central portion. The mechanism includes a converging member which, in conjunction with a forming frame co-acting with the converging member, causes inward rolling of the lateral edge portions of the stock material so that the edge portions of the stock material will overlap one another and the stock material will be formed in an elongated rolled form. The overlapping edge portions of the stock material are then received between a connector (comprised of gears) to connect them together to form the pad-like cushioning product or dunnage. However, it has been observed that the connectors can sometimes be insufficient to cause the overlapping edge portions of the stock material to stay connected after the dunnage is formed, and the overlapping edge portions can split apart during movement of the dunnage. When such splitting occurs, it can reduce the effectiveness of the dunnage because, among other things, the split dunnage provides less cushioning than an intact dunnage.